Scottish enlightenment and the development of accounting

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The Accounting Historians Journal
Vol. 15, No. 1
Spring 1988
Michael J. Mepham HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
THE SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACCOUNTING
Abstract: This article outlines the lives and background of the main writers who were active in the 18th century period of 'Scottish Ascendancy' in accounting texts. The impressive publica-tions produced by this group are detailed and the question of why this phenomenon should have occurred in Scotland is considered. It is suggested that the Scottish Ascendancy in accounting texts can be considered as part of the achievements of the Scottish Enlightenment and as complementary to the more renowned works in economics, law and philosophy, which are generally recognized as an important component of that movement.
THE SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT
The 'Scottish Enlightenment' is the name given in recent years to the remarkable epoch which Dugald Stewart described as a "sudden burst of genius" [1854, p. 551]. Although it is difficult to give firm dates, it is commonly considered that the Enlightenment extended from the Act of Union (1707) to the death of Sir Walter Scott (1832) with the peak of its achieve-ments occurring in the second half of the eighteenth century.
The period is sometimes characterized by describing the major developments in areas such as economics, philosophy and law, associated with the names of Adam Smith, David Hume and Lord Kames but the Enlightenment was not re-stricted to a small group working in a narrow range of subjects. Many other important advances occurred in a wide range of disciplines such as medicine, mathematics, agriculture, chemistry, geology, sociology, anthropology and psychology. The roll call of luminaries would include such people as: William Hunter, Andrew Duncan, William Cullen, Colin Mac-laurin, James Hutton, Joseph Black, William Robertson, Adam Ferguson and John Millar. The Enlightenment also saw a flowering of the arts so that there were great architects (such as Robert Adam), and a notable literary revival (Sir Walter Scott, Tobias Smollett and the poetry of Robert Burns).
The eighteenth century was also a period in which a number of important accounting texts emanated from Scotland